The Lollipop update is rolling to Nexus devices as we speak, but it could take up to a week till your device receives it. If you’re the impatient type, we have all the instructions to get Lollipop up and running in no time. You can download and flash the appropriate factory image for your device.

Now there are a couple of caveats. The first is that your bootloader must be unlocked. It’s not a big deal to unlock it, but the only issue with that is that your device will be wiped clean as in you will lose all your data. Alternatively, you can opt to manually install the OTA update, which keeps your data. If you happen to already have an unlocked bootloader, you can flash the factory image without wiping your data. Depending on your situation, we have two sets of instructions for you right after the break.

Of course it may be slightly difficult trying to flash Ubuntu Touch on your respective device, but if you’re feeling a little lucky—- you can check out more details and the different images at the source link below.

As most Android users wait for the anticipated Android 4.2 update to hit their devices, Galaxy Nexus users will get to enjoy some of the major improvements found in core apps thanks to some leaked Android 4.2 apps. The boys at AndroidSpin managed to score a collection of GAPPs which includes the 4.2 versions of Gmail, Maps, Talk, Calendar, Clock, Photo Sphere, the latest keyboard and much more. All Galaxy Nexus users will need to do is grab and flash the zip files that are available for download using any recovery method— just like you would flash a normal ROM. One thing to note is that Google Wallet does comes as a separate .apk, so users will need to grab that separate file and sideload it if they are interested in utilizing the app as well.

More details and download links can be found at the source links below.

Excellent news for unlocked Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 owners like myself who enjoy the pleasures of fiddling with those respective devices. The Google Development team has officially released the official Android 4.1.2 build JZO54K factory images for the unlocked Galaxy Nexus (“takju”) and the Nexus 7, respectively. This means that should you happen to take your general tomfoolery too far and create an “oopsies”, you’ll be able to restore the device back to normal as if nothing ever happened. And who wouldn’t want the ability to bring their device back to its original state?

Full details and links to the factory images are available once you hit the source link below.

As awesome as it is slapping on that custom ROM to your device, the process of having to backup and restore your applications, while simultaneously getting your settings just right is simply put, a pain. But wait a minute, what if it were possible to flash your apps in recovery right after the ROM? Well friends, App2Zip allows users to save precious time and do just that. Developed by SCDevs, App2Zip takes users’ current applications and places them into a custom recovery-flashable update.zip file. Users can then flash the ROM update.zip and then simply flash their applications in the same recovery session. All users need to do is fire up the app, give it root permissions, and it will create an update.zip. Sounds simple enough, right?

While it does seem simple enough for all users, the app is not confirmed to work with all Android devices. In fact, SCDevs gives out the following disclaimer:

“App2zip is in very early stage, does NOT work on some devices, so please first of all make a test to see if it works for you (e.g. backup an app you don’t care much, uninstall it and restore back via CWM recovery). Use at your own risk”!

Naturally, you’ll want to test App2Zip on your device just to confirm if it will indeed work or not. If you’re feeling a little lucky and want to grab the app for yourself, hit the break to see the Play Store link and QR code. Read more

Leave it to some crafty folks to ensure the latest and greatest tools are available for the latest and greatest devices in no time. While the HTC One X and One S smartphones are still newly released devices, the fine ClockworkMod development team has gone ahead and quickly pumped out the latest ClockworkMod Touch software for those devices. That means owners of those devices are one step closer to flashing not just one, but perhaps multiple ROMs because hey— we all love our ROMs, right?

Naturally, you’ll find the new ClockworkMod software when you hit the source link below. In addition, you will also find the traditional non-Touch version, if that’s your fancy. Well go on— get to it.

Happy days continue for owners of the Google Nexus S 4G smartphone. The much-anticipated Android 4.0 update is officially on its way and now the “soju” factory images are officially available as well, which officially brings Sprint’s version of the Nexus S current with the GSM versions of the device. Android AOSP wunderkind Jean-Baptiste Queru takes some time to make some key distinctions of the newly available factory image:

“This is meant to be used by people who built and flashed their own custom version of AOSP and wish to return to the factory state. If you’re currently running an official retail build, I simply recommend that you wait for the OTA”.

In summary folks: the factory image is meant for those who well you know… fiddled or tinkered with their device by adding a custom ROM for example– and want to flash their device back to its stock state. If you’re on stock Android now, you’re probably better off waiting for the actual OTA update instead of flashing your device to the latest build. When attempting to flash the factory image to the Nexus S 4G, please be aware that there’s a known bug in the bootloader, you’ll have to boot into whatever version of Android is on your device, and then return to fastboot and restart the flashing sequence.

If you’re the owner of a Samsung Captivate (SGH-i896, SGH-i897), and you love to flash, but fear the brick, fear not my comrades. AdamOutler, XDA Recognized Developer, has created a One-Click Unbricking tool for the Captivate that will save you from going through the painful task of unbricking your device after trying to flash without a JIG handy, thus giving you a bad taste in your mouth for further flashes.

This app is part of his Heimdall project, used for flashing Captivates, and will work on several OS’s. Here’s some of the features;

Will work on all Samsung devices which use Odin

Is a single, portable executable

Is the first one-click anything for our devices on Linux

Works on Mac

Works on Windows

Is open source

Is programmed in JavaDeploys and installs Heimdall for your OS

Is super easy to use…. Only one button!

So flash away Samsung Captivate owners, if you wish. Just always be sure to run a nandroid backup, Tibackup, and make sure you have this tool downloaded in case you need. If you have any issues or see any bugs, please report them to the developer here.